On 2 October 1978, Tim Allen Dick was arrested in Detroit for possession of a pound and a half of cocaine. Under Michigan law, he could have been sentenced to life in prison. Instead he turned state's evidence -- the legal term for ratting on your cohorts. Allen reportedly fingered at least 21 co-conspirators, and in exchange, he was sentenced to just five years under the more lenient (at that time) federal law. He was paroled after 2½ years, and after dropping his last name, he has become one of America's most successful ex-cons gone legit.

He started doing stand-up on a dare, and honed his "lovable loser with tools" persona after it went over well with a crowd of Goodyear Tire workers. His hit sitcom Home Improvement was built around this stage character, and of course, Allen now has his own line of power tools.

He was arrested for drunk driving in 1997, after he nearly fell over and couldn't count backwards during a roadside sobriety check. The arrest effectively brings Allen's life story full-circle: A drunk driver killed his father when Allen was 11.

Also in 1997, Allen was in an auto accident in Studio City, California, and injured a 72-year-old retired librarian named Henry Armstrong. Armstrong told the National Enquirer that Allen "was bleary-eyed and unsteady on his feet, and he never uttered a word, never mind said sorry." Allen sued the old man for $12 million, complaining that Allen's "business as a well-known and well-respected actor, entertainer, author, commercial spokesperson and product endorser has been damaged." Allen dropped the lawsuit two years later, as a "humanitarian gesture" when he learned that Armstrong was suffering from brain cancer.

Kip Addotta, a friend and comic who mentored Allen through the early years of his career, says Allen "cut all ties with me" as soon as his TV show started.